Fairlight is a full digital audio workstation living inside DaVinci Resolve, and audio is where amateur edits give themselves away faster than in any grade. The good news: dialogue that sounds professional needs a short, repeatable chain, not a sound engineering degree. This hub maps that chain and collects the audio guides on the site.
Quick answer: Start Fairlight audio with clip gain, then high-pass filtering, light EQ, compression, cleanup, and loudness. Use the no-audio guide for playback problems, the mute and split guide for timeline edits, the transcription guide for captions and review, and the AI tools guide before relying on Voice Isolation or other Studio-gated features.
Fairlight Audio Task Finder
| Task | Start here | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| No sound during playback | Check DIM, mute, bus routing, patching, output device and sample rate | DaVinci Resolve No Audio |
| Remove background noise, hum or hiss | Match the noise type to Noise Reduction FX, Voice Isolation, gate or De-Hummer | How to Remove Background Noise |
| Mute, split, or clean up dialogue clips | Use clip mute, track mute, blade edits and keyframes correctly | How to Mute and Split Audio |
| Transcribe dialogue or create captions | Use Resolve 21 transcription, then convert text to subtitles or review notes | How to Transcribe Audio in Resolve 21 |
| Check AI audio features | Confirm what is Free vs Studio before building a workflow around AI tools | Resolve 21 AI Tools: Free vs Studio |
| Set export audio correctly | Use the export guide when the timeline sounds fine but the final file does not | DaVinci Resolve export settings |
The Fairlight Dialogue Chain That Covers Most Edits
- Clip gain: get each clip into a sane range before effects.
- High-pass filter: start around 80 Hz to remove rumble, then adjust by voice.
- EQ: cut room resonance first, then add presence only if needed.
- Compression: even out loud and quiet words without flattening the voice.
- De-essing: control harsh S sounds after compression if needed.
- Loudness check: measure the full timeline against a delivery target instead of guessing by waveform height.
Loudness: the number that replaces guessing
Platforms normalize loudness, so mixing louder does not make you louder, it makes the platform turn you down. For YouTube-style web delivery, many editors use around -14 LUFS integrated with true peaks below -1 dBTP as a practical target. Treat that as a working target, not an official YouTube upload spec. YouTube publishes encoding settings for audio codec, sample rate and bitrate, but loudness normalization is handled by the platform after upload. Fairlight shows loudness on the meters panel, measured across a full playthrough of the timeline, and hitting the target there beats any waveform eyeballing.
Fairlight Cleanup: Free Tools vs Studio AI
The free version gives you the core Fairlight workflow most editors need: track mixer, Fairlight FX, built-in EQ, dynamics, de-essing, clip gain, track automation, routing and delivery tools. Blackmagic describes Fairlight as a full audio post system with EQ, dynamics, sound cleanup and mastering tools built into Resolve.
The confusing part is AI. Voice Isolation, Dialogue Leveler, Music Remixer and newer Resolve 21 audio AI features have changed location and availability across versions, and some are Studio-only depending on release. Before you build a workflow around an AI audio feature, check the Resolve 21 AI tools breakdown instead of assuming it is available in the free version. The background noise guide walks the free and Studio cleanup paths side by side.
When there is no sound at all
If the timeline is silent, troubleshoot playback first: mutes, solo states, monitored bus routing, output patching, output device and sample rate. The full symptom-by-symptom version lives in the no-audio guide. If the timeline sounds fine but the exported file is silent, that is an export problem, not a Fairlight monitoring problem, and it belongs in the export guide.
Guides in this cluster
- How to Remove Background Noise in DaVinci Resolve: Noise Reduction FX, Voice Isolation, gates, EQ and De-Hummer, matched to the noise type.
- DaVinci Resolve No Audio: Playback and Monitoring Fixes: the symptom-first walkthrough, from DIM and mutes to bus routing and output devices.
- How to Mute and Split Audio: clip, track and keyframe muting plus clean splits, the daily bread of dialogue editing.
- How to Transcribe Audio in Resolve 21: built-in transcription, and the fastest path to captions and text-based review.
- Resolve 21 AI Tools: Free vs Studio: which audio AI features need Studio.
- How to Export Video in DaVinci Resolve: audio export settings, codecs and the silent-file cases.
Everything audio lives under the Fairlight topic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fairlight free in DaVinci Resolve?
Yes. The Fairlight page is included in the free version of DaVinci Resolve, including the mixer, EQ, dynamics, routing and core audio editing tools. Some AI-assisted audio tools and advanced features may require Studio depending on version.
What loudness should I target for YouTube?
For YouTube-style web delivery, many editors use around -14 LUFS integrated with true peaks below -1 dBTP as a practical target. Treat that as a working target, not an official YouTube upload spec, and measure the full timeline rather than judging by waveform height.
Why does my DaVinci Resolve timeline have no sound?
Check muted or soloed tracks, monitored bus routing, Patch Input/Output, output device selection in Video and Audio I/O, sample rate compatibility and whether the clip's audio is linked or disabled. If the timeline sounds fine but the exported file is silent, use the export guide instead.